Sponsors (6)
Creates a divestment regime for top officials, adds a $500 fine per missed STOCK Act transaction report, and requires searchable, API-accessible public disclosure data.
Official title: Amend chapter 131 of title 5, United States Code, to prohibit transactions involving certain financial instruments by Members of Congress.
Introduced April 28, 2025 by Joshua David Hawley · Last progress April 28, 2025
The bill strengthens transparency and enforcement to reduce conflicts of interest among federal officials, but does so at the cost of added privacy exposure, implementation and compliance costs, potential transitional uncertainty, and the risk of burdensome fines for reporting errors.
Taxpayers, watchdogs, journalists, and nonprofits will get publicly searchable, sortable, downloadable, machine‑readable reports of Members' financial transactions (including an API), making it easier to detect and analyze conflicts of interest.
Members of Congress, the President, the Vice President, and covered federal officials will face clearer statutory divestment rules and harmonized definitions across ethics, lobbying, and securities laws, reducing real and perceived conflicts of interest and simplifying compliance.
Federal employees and officials will face a uniform, predictable penalty ($500 per missed report) and supervising ethics offices must update rules and guidance within one year, creating clearer enforcement expectations and improved compliance procedures.
Federal officials, oversight offices, and private actors will face expanded coverage and definitional changes from broadened cross‑references, increasing legal uncertainty and raising compliance and implementation costs.
Affected federal employees risk repeated $500 fines for missed reports that can accumulate, imposing a tangible financial burden especially on lower‑paid staff and creating risks of disproportionate penalties for minor lapses.
Members, staff, and their families face increased privacy and personal security risks from more detailed public disclosure of transaction amounts and dates.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates a new federal divestment regime and reporting rules for the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children; strengthens public online access to their financial and transaction disclosures; and adds a new $500 fine for each missed required STOCK Act transaction report. It also updates cross-references across ethics and securities laws, directs ethics offices to conform rules, and requires searchable, downloadable, API-accessible public disclosure data.